ARSENAULT: Call it maybe a bit outside as celebrities pitch first ball

Musician Jack White shows off a baseball before throwing out the ceremonial first pitch before the Detroit Tigers baseball game against the Chicago White Sox Tuesday in Detroit. (THE ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Has the ceremonial first pitch gotten a bit off target?

President William Howard Taft is given credit for starting the tradition in the United States before a Washington Senators game in 1910.

Jack White, the high-pitched, high-strung blues rocker, did the honours Tuesday night for his hometown Detroit Tigers by firing a ball to Saint Nick.

“It’s just one of those days you throw a split-fingered fastball to Santa Claus,” White told the Detroit Free Press.

Not to take anything away from White, a noted eccentric, but it was Christmas in July night at Comerica Park. Still, the self-described Luddite didn’t disappoint with his uniform choice, reportedly taking the mound wearing a Detroit Stars Negro League jersey.

Apparently doing his bit to rescue the ritual from the Carly Rae Jepsens of the world is Pearl Jam front man Eddie Vedder, who threw at a Chicago Cubs game last week. And, not for the first time, Vedder led the Wrigley Field faithful in the singing of Take Me Out to the Ball Game.

(Coincidentally, White was at a Cubs game last week too. His summer tour has hit several cities with big league teams, and he’s been spotted taking in a few innings along the way. The booking agent looks bad, though, for putting him at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto this week while the Blue Jays are on a road trip.)

As the specialness of the ritual has been diluted over the years, the history of meaningless pitches has become littered with lowlights. That’s because throwing a baseball with accuracy can be a challenge, sort of like making Weird Al Yankovic relevant again.

And video of a nervously-lobbed ball has a much longer afterlife on the Internet, compared with the era of rabbit ears. (Check out Jepsen’s effort last year in Tampa Bay.)

To be fair, most pre-game hurlers get the call because they’re well-known, though it’s not often for their athletic ability.

For some reason, Citi Field, home diamond of the New York Mets, has become something of a Bermuda Triangle for famous people’s pride.

The fifth anniversary of one of the least-celebrated celebrity efforts at the field was marked in May. Gary Dell’Abate, producer of Howard Stern’s satellite radio show, floated the ball more or less in the direction of the catcher. To borrow a classic play-by-play call by Bob Uecker from the movie Major League, it ended up “just a bit outside.”

Only the most cocky first-pitch enthusiasts use the actual mound. But Dell’Abate, who was good-naturedly hosting a group on Autism Awareness Day at the stadium, may have been talked into it by a well-intentioned listener who was a sports psychologist.

“I was on my way home one day so I talked to him for 40 minutes in the car,” he said in an interview during the Mets broadcast that is archived for posterity on MLB.com.

“Obviously, it didn’t work.”

Then there’s rapper 50 Cent. Legend has it that he has survived multiple gunshot wounds, but this spring he couldn’t make it out of Citi Field with his reputation unscathed after a throw so terrible that there was immediate speculation it was intentionally bad.

Every team can’t be as fortunate as the Seattle Mariners. They invited quarterback Russell Wilson from the neighbouring Seahawks to a game last year, and the former college baseball star threw like a pro.